While absentmindedly straightening up my surroundings, (fidgeting, or otherwise avoiding more writing) my head cocked at the sound of a news report CNN was playing. I recognize the name as if someone has just uttered my hometown; something that wouldn’t be very likely in my current whereabouts, or a lot of places, really. Showing footage of memories that play in my head like a panoramic film, it brings me wandering into the scene; sweeping across the urban landscape of a Delhi street, an attractive American reporter encounters denture-makers, ear cleaners, even dentists.
Yes, this all sounds completely normal in many places, but this is Mother India, road-side. She’s like that mother with Octuplets that can’t keep track of them all while everyone just can’t help but watch her squirm a bit. However, Mother India is birthing a bit more than 8; she’s blown out a sweltering population struggling with limited access to education, social security, and health care- leaving the majority of urban-dwellers often unable to even pay the police a bribe to set up shop in the street. Enter: the world’s largest democracy with a majority population living in vast rural regions well below the poverty line. Now, factor in the heavy burden on the infrastructure to come up with a means to solve these larger-than-life issues. How is she going to pay the hospital bill for all these babies? Will she be financially cared for later? Can all the kids go to school? Having to regroup and innovate isn’t as easy for Mother India as it is for “octomom.” The difference is that the latter is taken care of, in one way or another, by the media, which makes plenty of money off of the hype they conspire to conjure.
Imagine having to pee in front of 6 billion people. With India’s cultural background, we’re talking about some of the oldest civilizations thrown together here, then thrown together… there, then, crunch these people over there, and then just quickly blend until… voila! We have a democracy, people. Perhaps the beauty of India lies in it’s pure lack of logic. Something can be right, but also wrong. Possible, but also possibly impossible. Understand? Neither do I really, and I spent a month being the only white guy in a village with only two Anglophone Indians. Culturally speaking, let’s look at it this way: my country can call itself the “melting pot,” but India is something more.
India is a long line of people squeezed up against each other as tight as they possibly can, trying to buy their train ticket. Now, with the heat in India, that’s what I call “melting!”
The only problem is that they swarm the counter like bees. Jostling to get into their hive in the absence of a line makes the crowd seemingly endless; and eventually that hive is going to run out of honey. CNN ran a final clip of some men bathing in their lungis; (a sort of male apron that serve as pants and allow for a leak, without letting the little buddy in view, in the middle of a bustling street jammed with cars, tuk-tuks, bicyclists, and yes, even those roadside dentists…) After the camera cut back to the studio, the two dully debonair British news anchors, one wore a cocky smirk as the other chuckled while saying: “hm! Roadside dentists!” Nigel and Harry both had a good laugh, then flashed their pearly, priceless grins. Then they most likely went home to their comfortable homes with their families, each one of whom had a comfortable bed, nutritious food and healthy water, and hey, they might have even had an iPod from Santa, too!
This post is dedicated to Blog Action Day. This year’s theme is climate change, so let’s take that latter word to heart and start thinking about the amount of effort one person’s shower can take compared to another. It is often the difference between a multi-kilometer walk both ways, maybe uphill- or simply a walk down a hallway. Although India is not the best example of being environmentally conscious, we are all here to share this planet, so lets try to clean it up a bit and start thinking of the individual responsibilities each one of us has as individual global citizens who share the same resources. Indians are great examples of sharers.
As Minnesota-local Bob Dylan once said, “the time’s, they are a-changing.“ As for me, I’m off to create my exit plan from this small little rich country oh so full of great personal freedoms. In conclusion to the first month of my travels, I am grateful for the pleasant and unexpected connections the universe conspires to cross us with and excited to continue on the path to come. Finally, I leave you this to think about as you step into your role as a global citizen. A quote from American Philosopher, Thomas Paine:
“My country is my world, and my religion is to do good!”
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